Blow for U.K. PM Johnson as Scottish court rules suspension of parliament is unlawful: Scotland’s highest court of appeal ruled on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for five weeks was unlawful and should be annulled. Parliament was prorogued, or suspended, on Monday until Oct. 14, a move opponents argued was designed to thwart their attempts to scrutinize his plans for leaving the European Union and allow him to push through a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31. “We are calling for parliament to be recalled immediately,” Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, who led the challenge, told Sky News after the verdict by Scotland’s Inner Court of Session. “You cannot break the law with impunity, Boris Johnson. The rule of law will be upheld by Scotland’s courts and I hope also the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom,” Cherry said. Johnson’s office said the government would appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the United Kingdom. Jo Maugham, a lawyer involved in the Scottish case, said the government’s appeal would begin next Tuesday.

Dutch doctor acquitted in case of euthanasia of patient with dementia: A Dutch doctor was acquitted on Wednesday of all charges for the euthanasia of an elderly patient who suffered from dementia. Judges at the Hague District court found the patient had expressly requested euthanasia at an earlier stage in her disease, and the doctor had acted carefully in accordance with the law in the case, consulting other doctors and the patient’s family, and on the basis of her will. Medical assistance in dying (MAID) is legal under Dutch law under restricted conditions, including that a patient be undergoing unbearable suffering with no hope of recovery, and wishes to die. Canada’s federal law was enacted in 2016, while Quebec’s Act Respecting End-of-Life Care or Bill 52 was approved in 2014.

Defiant separatist leaders reiterate call for Catalan independence ahead of march: Catalonia’s separatist leaders said independence from Spain was still their goal and another unauthorized referendum remained an option as supporters gathered on Wednesday for an annual march that has come to exemplify Catalan nationalism. The independence drive has overshadowed Spanish politics for years and is now at a defining moment at a time when national politics themselves are in turmoil. Massive annual marches have taken place on the region’s commemorative day on Sept. 11 — known as the “Diada” — since 2012. The turnout and the tone of this year’s event will act as a gauge on the separatist movement ahead of a court ruling linked to a short-lived unilateral declaration of independence in 2017. At the same time, 12 Catalan leaders — nine of them jailed — are awaiting a verdict in their trial for rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of public funds over the independence referendum and the botched declaration that followed it. “What the state intends with this sentence is to behead a peaceful movement and, as it cannot detain two million citizens, it locks us up,” said Oriol Junqueras, 50, the jailed leader of the left-wing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party. Prosecutors are seeking sentences ranging from 7 to 25 years, the latter only for Junqueras.

Egyptian court jails Muslim Brotherhood head, 10 others for life:An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and 10 other top officials from the outlawed group to life in prison in connection with charges of conspiring with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The verdict against Mohamed Badie and other members came during the retrial of a case in which former president Mohamed Mursi had been a defendant. Mursi, the Brotherhood member who won the presidency in 2012 only to be ousted a year later by the army amid mass protests, died in June after collapsing in court. Brotherhood leaders jailed for life included Khairat El-Shater, the deputy head widely seen as the power behind the scenes during Mursi’s short-lived rule, former parliamentary speaker Saad El-Katatni and ex-lawmaker Mohamed El-Beltagi. The charges against Mursi were dropped, while three other defendants were sentenced to 10 years, two received seven-year sentences and five were acquitted.